SLATEY, SLEATY, or SLETTY
according to the
LEWIS TOPOGRAPHICAL
DICTIONARY
OF
IRELAND 1837
by Samuel Lewis
SLATEY, SLEATY, or SLETTY, a parish, in the barony
of SLIEVEMARGUE, QUEEN'S county, and province of LEINSTER, 1 1/4
mile (N.N.W.) from Carlow; containing 189 inhabitants. This parish,
which is situated on the river Barrow, comprises 656 statute acres,
as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £728 per annum.
Knockbeg is the residence of W. Carruthers, Esq.; and here is also
that of Gerald Byrne, Esq. The living is a rectory, in the diocese
of Leighlin, united to that of Shruel, and in the patronage of the
Bishop: the tithes amount to £60, and the gross value of the
benefice is £106.3.1. In the R.C. divisions it forms part of the
union or district of Killeshin. Here is a hedge school of 10 boys
and 4 girls. St. Fiech is said to have founded a church and
bishoprick here, in the fifth century, the latter of which was
afterwards transferred to Leighlin; in the churchyard are two stone
crosses of remote antiquity; and there are ruins of a small church
called Slieb-teach, or "The House near the Mountains," which is said
to have been originally a place of great importance.
SLETTY
to KILLESHIN
About 1823 Dr. Doyle detached
Sletty from Arles parish and added it to Killeshin. The Chapel in
Carlow-Graig had to be enlarged to accommodate the new population. The
larger portion of the Chapel in Chapel Street was built probably at this
time. It was designed by Cohden who also designed the Church of Ireland
Parish Church, Killeshin. He also designed the spire of St. Mary’s
Church, Carlow Cathedral and as we have seen, Holy Cross Church,
Killeshin.
SLETTY
St. Fiacc and all the saints of Sletty were
thus added to Killeshin, but they are not lost to their former
territory, Arles parish. In May 1847, the house and farm of 127 acres at
Knockbeg were bought by Carlow College and St. Mary’s was opened there
as a preparatory school to Carlow College. In I 892 Carlow lay college
was transferred to Knockbeg. In 1898 Bishop Foley made it the junior
diocesan seminary. In 1933 the new church of St. Clare, Graiguecullen
was opened.
KILLANURE
Less than a mile west of Sletty in the townland
of Leagh there is an old burial-ground named Killanure, the Church of
the Yew, from the practice of planting yew-trees near churches. It is
sometimes called Rath Kilanure. Within a few fields distance there is a
remarkable Rath. There are no traces of a church here and no tradition
regarding one.
Image source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Griffiths Valuation of Sleaty